Del Lago Atitlan

Can’t thank Hostel del Lago enough for honestly the BEST stay! We kept extending longer and longer – so sad to leave! All the volunteers are absolutely wonderful gems, truly kind, welcoming and friendly. Big shout out to Nico (legend), Jess, Megs, Kiara, Danny and anyone else who we got to meet (they are a wonderful bunch of humans!) The hostel itself is situated right on the lake, with a platform, clear safe water to swim and sunbathe. The café and bar serve absolutely incredible food (everything from the huge bolognaise portions, to the veggie burger), craft beers for decent prices and the included breakfast is huge and perfect (you get to choose from 4 x dishes each morning!) The yoga studio is a gorgeous platform overlooking the lake, 3 x classes daily for an affordable 50Q (cheapest in the area by far!) My boyfriend and I got to take wonderful classes with Charlie, Sarah and Dani – thank you all! It's really the perfect place to relax, eat good food, meet lovely people and chill!

Big MEH I’ve been and worked in many hostels that pride themselves on being “inclusive” and “friendly” however many of our interactions with the people working at the property (besides the locals working on the grounds) were quite hostile and we felt as if our questions were an inconvenience to them. You must also buy water from the hostel or buy plastic bottled water from nearby stores. We like to do what we can to limit our plastic intake when travelling so we were filling up our water bottles for 5Q in the main area. However no one mentioned that the main area closes at 10pm locking the only source of water for the whole hostel inside of it!! & every tienda in town was closed, we checked everyone, seriously. Which in the end resulted in me having the worst 2 day hangover of my existence. Why not just be kind to fellow backpackers and leave the water jug with an honesty jar outside the locked area instead of trying to make an extra buck/not trusting the guests staying at your hostel. I personally always believe charging for water in a hostel is a really sleazy move, especially when you can support local in Guatemala and buy clay filtration systems that will filter unlimited water for free and cut down on plastic waste. You would think that in a place like San Marcos you would find a hostel that was less focused on making money

All the rooms are of a good standard and plenty of price variations. Breakfast included which is substantial and delicious including instant coffee or small charge for freshly brewed local coffee. Lunch and evening meals available from on site kitchen all freshly cooked from local ingredients. Yoga deck over looking the lake with daily classes and sun decks at the waters edge.

My daughter booked 2 rooms on this hostel. One a family roon with "bathroom" and another with shower. As common everywhere we understood that a "bathroom" means shower & toilet. Apparently it wasnt. Only toilet. But our stay didnt start with this disappointment but with difficult communication with the owners. All day long our personal tour guid tried to call the hostel to let them know that we will arrive by boat at night. On both phone no. written on the website and facebook no one answered. When we arrived everything was dark. We got off the boat with all our luggage and 3 young tired girls (ages 8, 6, 6) on pitch dark until our guid found the reception. It turned out the place is actually ran by volunteers, not profesionals. No one explained how to use the hot water system, and onmy room (grandmother age 69) dthe electricity was off. The expectations of the volunteer was that this is a problem of the electricty of Guatemal. A strange explanation as other rooms were with light all the time. It turned out that the onlt private place we can use for shower had hot water problems as you need electricty to put the gas heater on. So we used the public ones even we paid more money for a private one. The top was on the second day when another volunteer, who was at the desk for orderding breakfast decided we have to pay for the girl's meals. For 20 minutes my daughter tried to show her that everything was paid in advance - but she refused to move from her wrong idea. Not even thinking of calling the owner of the hostel to find out. Only aftr my son in law was firm with her to call the owner in order to settle everything she did so. No apologies were given. So if you want to stay in a hostel that has its potential but is full of misunderstandings, an owner that is never there, gives stupid and rude answers and explanations on e-mail, and run by amateur volunteers - you are welcome to stay there. Otherwise I suggest you look for a better place with proper management as we had experienced in 6 other hotels, airbnb, and hostels in beautiful Giatemala.